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So here I am, starting to paint my armor, and my friend who is helping me to paint picks up the top half of the right gauntlet looks at it for a bit, then exclaims

"Bloody hell.. it's a 109!"

Aparently there was a large scale Me 109 wire control kit made in the 1970's, and the top half of the gauntlet is the lower part of the engine section of the kit. If you turn the gauntlet up side down, and I suppose have a good idea of the shape of the 109, you can see it quite clearly. The prop makers have built it up in places and changed some of the shape but the 109 is the base shape underneath it all.

I'll edit this post later with the relevant details, make/model etc...

After explaining himself to me I can see it and I believe that there's a good chance this is correct. And I'm also being lazy and not checking to see if anyone has all ready discovered this.

Working on it... I'm 700km away from my computer and a Digital camera. So bear with me for a couple of days.

I think the most I can do for a comparison is to take a shot of the Gauntlet and find a shot of the Me 109 that shows that part in question. I don't think I'll have any luck getting a pic of the kit in question.

I'll post info on the kit manufacturer later on today. Forgot to ask the name when I saw him last.

The manufacturer is either Gallows or Cox O2? The kit is not an exact scale mold, and the part in question will have the motor sticking out of various points. My friend is combing his magazine collection for pics of the kit.

I personally can't prove this as fact, since the kit in question is nearly 30 years old, and I don't have the resources to find one in New Zealand, since the would have arrived in very limited numbers.

I feel that I have to do this, since I can't back up my claim with concrete proof. If someone else in England or America feels the urge they can start looking, but I don't expect that.

That's right, you aren't claming it's as some sort of fact. You should definitely keep researching. This is how found parts are discovered! If you think you may be onto something, you should do your best to look into it and see if you discover something new.

Don't be discouraged! What we are trying to prevent at TDH are statements that are posted as "unsubstantiated" FACTS, i.e. "I know for a fact so and so is a motor carriage, but I can't tell or show you why."

You've got a hunch and a lead on a possible identity- that is how things get found! With out the "I think or I have feeling it might be this or that" phase, we probably wouldn't find anything.

Keep digging. If it's not the base in the end, no big deal. Finding found pieces is a group effort that requires a lot of trial and error. At least you didn't leave that stone unturned, because you never know when you might find something in an odd or absurd place.

Several of the greeblies on Fett's suit (as well as that of other SW characters) came about from "kit bashing." The Revell V-8 motor model is a plethora of prop parts. Stranger things have been used to make the real costume (like all of the dental odds and ends), so you may be on the right track with this particular model kit.

I did some searching after seeing this thread. I found a couple of pics that *could* have been used. One is the air intake on the bottom the enging compartment. It looks like it could have been used on the top part of the right gaunt. I'm not 100% sure and I can't seem to find the pic again.

An old friend happened to notice some pictures that I was looking at, as well as a extremely primitive prototype, of the ammo pouches.

He said that they looked remarkable like some old camera equipment pouches that he used to have back in the 60's and 70's. I think he told me the name of the company but I can't remember at this time, I'll have to contact him again about it.

That is really interesting. I'm sure someone else would know if they were scratchmade or not, but if they were purchased then that very well could be correct. A lot of Star Wars props were made from camera equipment, so it's possible...

Also I've been doing a little searching on the ME-109 kit, and I see Revell model kits come up a lot. Revell also made the Visible V8 Engine Kit, so there could be a connection.

As to the 109 kit... It's a large scale, but not an accurate scale, so it won't be a 1/24 scale listing or anything like that. It's also a kit designed to have a petrol motor placed in it and then flown by wire. I personally have never heard of Revell make anything apart from scale miniatures.

I've listed what my man thought the manufacturers were up in the early posts. Gallows (maybe wrong spelling) or Cox o2.

Ammo belt : Yeah the fact that he said camera equipment made me think more about it too. I just have find out if he can remember what company the gear came from!

It's not really an earth shattering thing if we do find this to be true, the scratch built belt that are being made are more than enough to do the job!

I mentioned this on a mailing list I was attached to about 4-5 years ago, the 'The Ulimate Boba Fett' list, or something like that. I know there are members of that list here. Maybe I sparked that one as well?